(Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Award) "The first time Theresa saw Brother was the way she would think of him ever after. Tree fell head over heels for him. It was love at first sight in a wild beating of her heart that took her breath. But it was a dark Friday three weeks later when it rained, hard and wicked, before she knew Brother Rush was a ghost." From this brilliant opening, Virginia Hamilton follows 14-year-old Tree, left home to care for her damaged older brother Dab, as the ghost of her uncle helps her uncover family secrets and begin to make sense of her life. The winner of every major award in children's literature—including the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the Newbery Medal, and the National Book Award for Young People's Literature—Hamilton earned a Newbery Honor and the Coretta Scott King Award for this 1982 novel for readers 10 and up.

"Just read the first page, just the first paragraph, of Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush. Then stop—if you can."—NYTBR